May 20, 2011, Friday

A sampler of literary catastrophe for these dark times. Don't run away. It's not as depressing as it sounds. One of the enduring paradoxes of great apocalyptic writing is that it consoles even as it alarms.

July 27, 2008, Sunday

To the Editor: Harold Bloom ends his review of Rebecca Goldstein's ''Betraying Spinoza'' (June 18) with the exhortation: ''Read his 'Ethics.' It will illuminate you.'' Let me warn your readers not to take Bloom's advice. Spinoza's ''Ethica...